Month: January 2009

  • Clinton on China relations: 'A more comprehensive approach'

    The economy will be at the center of the U.S.–China relationship in the Obama administration, but a “comprehensive dialogue” is necessary. That’s the word from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking with reporters recently. The transcript is, strangely, undated. QUESTION: Madame Secretary, your colleague – now your colleague, Tim Geithner, raised some eyebrows with…

  • The straw man of Internet-fueled civil discourse

    Just because people are online doesn’t mean they engage in civil public discourse. This simple idea has emerged as one thread of conventional wisdom in recent years, especially in the context of the People’s Republic of China. In an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, Rebecca MacKinnon reinforces the idea: Back in 2001 a…

  • links for 2009-01-28

    The Other Ellis Island (Time Magazine) "From 1910 to 1940, a million immigrants seeking a better life in the U.S., most of them Chinese, were processed on Angel Island, a tiny dot of land in the San Francisco Bay, roughly 45 minutes from San Francisco." (tags: china-us chinesediaspora migration huaqiao chineseamerican sanfrancisco angelisland) Worldchanging: Mapping:…

  • Remembering the Year of the Rat (photos)

    Life passed into the Year of the Ox yesterday with little fanfare at Transpacifica headquarters. There were memories, however, of an explosive night in Beijing a year ago as we rang in the Year of the Rat. As a commemoration, I offer these photographs—from a walk by the half-done CCTV tower to a midnight walk…

  • links for 2009-01-27

    Will China Have Universal Health Care Before America? – Ezra Klein Ezra writes: "China just decided to spend $123 billion by 2011 to build a universal health care system for its $1.3 billion people. So they'll likely have universal health care before we will. This American exceptionalism thing is getting out of hand." The saving's…